Write This Down
by nannygirl
Summary: When Jackie happily shows off a love note that she's received it causes a few problems over in The Forman home. Very loosely based off the song by George Strait.


_**Disclaimer:**_ _I own nothing. I do not own That '70s Show or any of its characters. I do not own the song that helped inspired this story. I own nothing!_

 _ **Author's Note:**_ _Hello everyone! How are you? Hope you're doing well! I know it's been a while since I've been on here and I am very sorry about that, I'm working on getting some more updates to you all very soon but in the meantime I hope you enjoy this little oneshot. It was written a few days ago for National Love Note Day but I hope you all will still enjoy it now. Thanks for stopping by to read, please review if you can, I'd so love to hear your thoughts! Special thanks to jacquelineshyde who's wonderful poetry works I kept in mind when starting this story and to MistyMountainHop for encouraging me to post this among other thing. Thank you so much ladies! And a big thank you to all who stop by to read! Hope you like, please review if you can, and as always, please, Enjoy!_

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 **Write This Down**

"Oh my God, Mrs. Forman," Jackie Burkhart came bounding into the kitchen from the basement, a single yellow sheet of paper grasped in her right hand. "You have to read what Steven wrote me."

Letting her curiosity get the best of her, Kitty smiled and took the note into her own hands. As her eyes read the words written in a familiar, rushed styled handwriting the smile on her lips grew tighter and her stare softened. Not even midway through reading, her left hand moved to cover her heart and her shoulders raised then lowered with a sigh.

"Awww," she cooed as if the sheet of paper she'd been handed had suddenly turned into a little kitten.

Jackie was beaming beside her, "I know! And I didn't even have to force him to write anything. This was all him."

"This is so beautiful," gushed Kitty before taking the letter and walking to the round breakfast table. "Red, honey, you have to read what Steven wrote Jackie here."

"Kitty, I'm not reading anything," Red argued, looking up from the open newspaper he'd been hidden behind. "A man is not supposed to read anything another man has written to his girl. It's one of the rules of being a man; right next to no crying and leaving Sundays devoted to football."

While his words made Kitty shake her head as she stepped back towards the kitchen stove, Jackie just continued to grin brightly. Her smile possibly having grown even larger with Red's remark. However, it wasn't Jackie's big smile that bothered Red but the fact that she was looking directly at him while she gave it.

He scowled at the young woman, "What're you grinning at?"

"You called me Steven's girl," she replied with a happy giggle that merely made Red roll his eyes before returning to his reading.

With a smile, Kitty handed the girl her note back, "Well I think it is just the sweetest thing, Jackie."

"Isn't it?" Jackie gave a dreamy sigh, she held the notebook paper in front of her like it was a million-dollar masterpiece. "I'm gonna put it in a picture frame and put it on my mantel so I can see it every day!"

The plan, as well as the excitement they'd been shared in, made Kitty laugh and nod her head in approval. Red, on the other hand, stayed behind his paper, shaking his head in disapproval. He knew the writer of the letter and knew that Steven was not going to appreciate his girlfriend's idea.

"You know, I still have all of the love letters Red wrote to me saved in a box up in the attic," informed a smiling Kitty.

Raising her right eyebrow, Jackie was confused by two things: why was Mrs. Forman sharing this information with her and Mr. Forman had written love letters? Figuring the second question was a little less rude than the first, she decided to voice that one—maybe the first would answer itself along the way.

"Mr. Forman wrote you love letters? Like with rocks and one of those pointy stick things….like they do on _The Flintstones_?"

Quickly the corners of Kitty's smile drooped heavily. "Honey, we're not that old," she tried not to be too offended so that she could continue her explanation. "And yes, Red wrote me love letters, on paper just like yours."

Instead of voicing an apology, Jackie shrugged her shoulders in a 'my mistake' kind of way; though it didn't look like Kitty seemed to mind or even noticed. She was staring across the kitchen, at her husband, her smile stretching on her lips as her mind filled with memories of some of those love letters he'd written and sent her all those years ago.

Kitty continued to look at Red, who'd yet to notice her stare, "They were such lovely letters. In them Red used to call me his one and only," she shared with Jackie before letting out one of her girlish giggles. "He'd talk about dreams he had of our future together and…the things he said in those letters Jackie, you could really tell that he was writing from his heart. My heart felt was his heart was telling me."

"You really want Steven to write you some of that mushy crap, put him in the face of danger with the stink of death starring him in the eye," Red pointed his finger at Jackie.

Hearing the suggestion, Jackie was intrigued and she started to think of some ways that she could make this happen. How could she make Steven think his life was in danger and more importantly enough to make it scary enough to make him write her an even better love note.

"Red was fighting over in Korea when he wrote those letters," explained Kitty having confused Jackie's thinking frown for a frown of confusion.

Jackie nodded her head, trying to conceal her disappointment. There'd have to be a war going on to get Steven to write her something extra mushy and there wasn't. And even if there was Jackie wouldn't want to risk her boyfriend's life for some letter, no matter how mushy and sweet it could be.

"You know, now that I think about it," a wrinkle was creasing Kitty's forehead. "Red, you haven't written me anything since you got home from Korea."

Lowering his paper, Red tried to laugh off the slight panic the question caused hm. "Well, Kitty…why would I write you something that says I love you when I could just tell it to you in person? Sweetie," he added on for good measure, as well as a big grin.

"You hardly ever tell me you love me either," she soon pointed out and while the smile on Red's face slowly shrunk, Kitty folded her arms over her chest. "Why don't you tell me you love more often, Red?"

The man in question heaved out a sigh, "Alright look, Kitty, before we get into this whole thing you've gotta decide. Are we arguing about how I don't write you love letters anymore or how I don't tell you I love you all time? Because you can't have both."

"Fine," she nodded, not wanting to seem too unreasonable. "Why don't you write me love letters anymore, Red? You used to write such beautiful messages."

"Kitty, we wrote those letters when we were practically kids," Red reminded, his voice sounding more agitated than actually angry. "We're adults now, living adult lives. We don't have time to be writing love letters."

"Steven had time to write one for Jackie," Kitty was quick to point out.

Looking skywards, Red couldn't understand why his wife insisted on comparing their marriage to these two lovesick kids.

"He's a kid, Kitty," his slightly shaking open palms put emphasis on the words. "Don't you think our mature relationship is past all those silly love note kind of things."

"No!" his wife's reply carried an echo.

"Mr. Forman, this love note is not silly," the voice of Kitty's echo continued to speak. "It is sweet and romantic."

Kitty waved a hand in his direction, "You see Red, _romantic_. You know, it wouldn't hurt you to be a little more romantic every now and then."

"It might," Red grumbled, frowning deeply. He did not like this two against one argument going on here. "You don't know. I've got a bad heart, Kitty."

As an attempt at playing the sympathy card, Red placed his hand over his heart and tried to look pained—it didn't work. Kitty shook her head and turned away from him completely. Jackie was mostly on Mrs. Forman's side of the argument, but physically she was caught in the middle of them and carefully tiptoed to Red's side of the battlefield to try to help him out a little.

"I think you should really think about writing Mrs. Forman a little love note, Mr. Forman. I could help you if you want," Jackie whispered her offer.

Red scowled back, "Haven't you helped enough?"

Jackie pouted for a bit before getting another idea. "Oh! I could get Steven to help you."

Before Red could turn down the brunette's suggestion, Kitty was once again approaching the table where the two of them sat. There was a determined look on Kitty's face and in one hand she held a pencil while the other held a small square-shaped piece of paper that looked to have been torn off from the memo pad by the phone.

"Okay, Red, since you won't start it on your own and you won't accept any help from the kids, I'm going to help you."

The frown on Red's forehead deepened more and more as he watched Kitty sit down at the table start using the pencil to write on the paper.

"Kitty, I don't want a love note…"

"It's not for you," she cut him off to inform; never looking up from her writing. "It's for me."

"You're writing your own love letter?" Jackie questioned; this was even sadder than the vacuum hickey Fez had given himself.

"No, I'm helping Red get started on his," Kitty explained to Jackie before looking over at her husband and showing him what she'd written, "Now you see Red, I've started it for you. I wrote, I love you because… and all you have to do is fill in the blank, simple as that!"

Keeping his brows furrowed, Red looked at his beaming wife; he didn't feel as annoyed as he had before but he was certainly feeling more than a little uncertain.

"We've been married for over twenty years, Kitty," he began to say. "Couldn't you fill in the blank on your own?"

Immediately Kitty's smile disappeared and her eyes grew large and outraged. "Red Forman, this is not like one of the kids' birthday cards where I can just sign your name for you. You are filling in this blank on your own because I want you to write from that darn old cranky heart of yours!"

"Alright fine!" Red growled back, his booming voice just as loud as hers. "Give me the damn pencil."

She handed him the writing tool and he pulled the unfinished note closer to him. Red silently stared down at his wife's loopy cursive writing, _I love you because…_ All he had to do was find an end to this sentence and it could end this whole argument too. The trouble was he couldn't seem to find the words to add to it—and of course, it didn't help that he had two pairs of eyes gawking at him at waiting to see what he came up with.

He looked up at his wife. "Are we done with this argument? Cuz then I'd have something to write."

Exasperated and quite a bit hurt, Kitty threw her hands in the air and stood up from her seat before then marching off into the living room. Red sighed softly as he watched her leave.

"Poor Mrs. Forman," Jackie said sadly.

Red turned his head towards the young woman, sending her a sort of look that sarcastically said, ' _Thanks a lot.'_

"Hey Jackie," a new voice called, stepping into the room, "what'd you do with…"

"You!" Red stood and pointed his index finger straight at the confused looking Steven Hyde. "This is all your fault!"

Hyde's puzzled frown followed Red as he headed for the swinging door then at Jackie and then quickly back at Red when the older man shouted a quick 'Dumbass!' just before he exited the room. With Red gone, and knowing he shouldn't follow him if he wanted to live, Hyde looked at Jackie again.

Jackie smiled back at him and hugged her yellow sheet of peer to her chest. "I just love my love note, puddin'."

0o0o0o

For the rest of the evening Kitty remained quite distant from her husband. Dinner conversation was focused between the kids and she'd skipped out on watching the evening television programs to wash the dishes and clean the rest of the kitchen. As the evening drew to a close, she'd even taken an extra long shower so that when she got out her husband would hopefully already be off in dreamland.

Kitty had gotten her wish and by the time she'd finished her shower and rolled her hair into her pink foam curlers, Red was snoring away.

She slipped into bed, pulling the sheets over her legs, and grabbed the current book she was reading off her nightstand while switching on her lamp with her other hand. Kitty figured she could do some reading to help her fall asleep and if Red woke up bothered by the fact that she had her reading lamp on, well, that would just be a nice little plus.

Snuggling back into her pillows, she opened her novel to where she'd left her bookmark in the night before. However, much to her surprise Kitty didn't find her usual bookmark hidden between the book pages but rather a small white sheet of paper with a jagged torn top edge.

Her fingers picked up the note and turned it over, finding her own familiar handing writing at the top. And then beside her inscription was a handwriting that was just as familiar as her own and it made her smile much more than her own.

As Kitty read the message that her husband had left for her, the smile on her face grew and her heart fluttered the same way it used to years ago when she'd read the letters he'd sent her from Korea. Back then, after reading his letter all she'd want to do was see him and hold him close but couldn't because he was hundreds of miles away. Today, Red's words had the same effect on her; luckily this time around he was right beside her in their bed.

After releasing a small giggle and reading over the note once more, she placed the small paper back inside her book—it was now going to be her favorite bookmark—and set the book off to the side. Smiling, Kitty wrapped her arm over Red's form then snuggled close to him, she took a quick glance at him to make sure she hadn't woken him up before resting her head on his shoulder. And as she drifted off to sleep, her mind remained on the little love note stuck in her book.

 _ **I love you because…**_

 _You put up with me even when I act like a jackass._

 _Love, Red_

 _p.s. you're still my one and only._

 **The End**

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 _ **Author's Note:**_ _So what did you think? Yay? Nay? Be sure to let me know in a review!_

 _Again I hope you all liked this little oneshot. I'm so sorry I've been away for so long, I'll be caching up with chapters, pms, and reading your fics over the next week or so, so be on the lookout for all that!_

 _Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, take care, and have a nice day!_


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